UW-Madison in the Media

A selection of media coverage about the university and its people.

Tom Oates: Badgers football coach Gary Andersen handles adversity with classMadison.comSept. 17, 2013Kelly Sheffield had a tough act to follow Monday. The University of Wisconsin volleyball coach was next up at the athletic department’s weekly news conference, taking the microphone from Gary Andersen after UW’s first-year football coach had spent nearly a half-hour fielding questions about the officiating debacle that likely cost the Badgers a victory Saturday night at Arizona State.

Wisconsin faculty object to idea that shared governance should changeInside Higher EducationSept. 9, 2013A meeting between the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and state legislators last week to find common ground in the wake of recent disputes over cash reserves. But discussions during the meeting about rethinking shared governance had some faculty feeling like they were left holding the bag for administrators’ actions – and that their decision-making authority within the system was under threat.

UW art department exhibit a vibrant blend of visual stylesBadger HeraldSept. 13, 2013As the fall semester gets off to a busy start, graduate students working toward their MA and MFA degrees have begun to exhibit their latest artworks. This year’s review show is called “///Some.” In it, 18 graduate students in the art department showcase one piece that best represents their progress in two years of study.

Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?New York TimesSept. 11, 2013Noted: Depending on our personalities, and how we’re raised, the ability to reframe may or may not come easily. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, notes that while one child may stay rattled by an event for days or weeks, another child may rebound within hours. (Neurotic people tend to recover more slowly.)

How to Decode the Universe Using an Antarctic IceCubeSlate MagazineSept. 9, 2013Call it a telescope, call it a detector, or call it an observatory -- it’s all the same to the University of Wisconsin scientists at the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory, which is now the world’s largest neutrino research array. Constructed between 2005 and 2010, the IceCube array consists of 86 identical holes, drilled 1.5 miles deep, scattered throughout the ice and filled with extremely sensitive particle physics monitoring equipment.

Get moving: Lakeshore Nature PreserveWisconsin State JournalSept. 9, 2013It’s a valuable natural resource right in the middle of Madison — the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the UW-Madison campus. The area protects 300 acres of undeveloped land along Lake Mendota, including Picnic Point, Lakeshore Path and Muir Woods.

UW improves vets’ grant aidBadger HeraldSept. 4, 2013Before the start of this school year, University of Wisconsin Veteran Services Coordinator Joe Rasmussen encouraged out-of-state veterans to look at other Big 10 schools because enrolling in Madison was too expensive.

Sleep 'boosts brain cell numbers'BBC NewsSept. 4, 2013Scientists believe they have discovered a new reason why we need to sleep - it replenishes a type of brain cell.

Humans Would Be Better Off If They Monkeyed Around Like the MuriquisSmithsonian MagazineAug. 30, 2013It’s 9 o’clock on a June morning in a muggy tropical forest not far from Brazil’s Atlantic coast and brown howler monkeys have been roaring for an hour. But the muriquis—the largest primates in the Americas after human beings, and the animals that the anthropologist Karen Strier and I have huffed uphill to see—are still curled high in the crooks of trees, waiting for the morning sun to warm them.

Chancellor Rebecca Blank urges new Badgers to explore, help each other -- and her -- outMadison.comAug. 30, 2013Calling herself a "fellow newbie," UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank told thousands of freshman and transfer students at a convocation Friday to leave their comfort zone as they enter college by embracing the diversity of their classmates, taking classes that intrigue them even if they’re not required and asking for help when things get rough.

City proclaims Friday John "Vietnam" Nguyen DayWisconsin State JournalAug. 28, 2013The city of Madison has proclaimed Friday to be John “Vietnam” Nguyen Day, which marks the one-year anniversary of the death of the 19-year-old UW-Madison student and Chicago-raised hip-hop artist who drowned in Lake Mendota.

Hearing can make 'invisible' objects appearThe ConversationAug. 28, 2013Words that make objects appear from thin air are generally the stuff of the magical worlds of Harry Potter or The Hobbit. But a new experiment (by Gary Lupyan of the University of Wisconsin-Madison) has been shown that words can make objects easier to recognise, as our sense of vision can be altered by other sensory inputs.

A Time to Return to and Reflect on the March on WashingtonNew York TimesAug. 23, 2013Noted: When people talk about that day, they tend to go in one of two directions, said William P. Jones, author of “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights” and a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Andrew McCuaig: PEOPLE Program provides hope in difficult political climateCapital TimesAug. 22, 2013This summer I had the opportunity to teach an English class on the UW-Madison campus to a group of high school juniors in the PEOPLE Program. The purpose of the PEOPLE Program (Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence) is to mentor and provide scholarships to students who belong to historically under-represented groups at the UW.

New chancellor Rebecca Blank talks D.C., faculty pay, tuition and global educationWisconsin State JournalAug. 22, 2013After touring Milwaukee last week, new UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank spent this week reaching out to various groups in Madison. Below are comments from her Monday conversation with the State Journal at her Bascom Hall office, which still contains many unopened bankers boxes as she tries to get things arranged after moving with her husband and daughter from the Washington, D.C., area.

25 Happiest, Healthiest Cities In AmericaPrevention.comAug. 22, 20138. Madison, WI ... Happiness hub: The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, which includes prairies, savannas, and 20 miles of trails

Paul Fanlund: A first take with Rebecca BlankCapital TimesAug. 21, 2013Rebecca Blank jokes that if she really sought the biggest public relations boost possible for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she would have stayed longer in her old job.

Doug Bradley: Start Me UpHuffington PostAug. 21, 2013As I seated myself among more than 100 established or would-be entrepreneurs at the Badger Startup Summit at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Friday, I began to conduct my own unscientific poll. Motivating me was an article in The Wall Street Journal two days earlier about a recent study by Ross Levine and Yona Rubenstein indicating that entrepreneurship seems to be linked with mischievous tendencies such as shoplifting, marijuana use, skipping school, etc. as a teenager.

Susan C. Cook writes a new tune for the UW music schoolIsthmusAug. 21, 2013The UW School of Music will have a new leader as it begins the fall 2013 semester. Though she’s just stepping up to the helm, her face is familiar to students who study subjects ranging from viola to Victorian poetry.

Blum: Is There Danger Lurking in Your Lipstick?New York TimesAug. 16, 2013A soft pink, a glowing red, even a cyanotic purple — millions of women and girls apply lipstick every day. And not just once: some style-conscious users touch up their color more than 20 times a day, according to a recent study. But are they also exposing themselves to toxic metals?

Bacteria-Powered Light Bulb Is Electricity-FreeDiscovery NewsAug. 16, 2013Bacteria is experiencing a boon as of late. Just recently, microorganisms have been used to make a better sunscreen. Another bright idea comes from scientists who are using bacteria as the key ingredient in a biological light bulb that requires no electricity.

Lead poisoning's impact: Kids suspended more at schoolUSA TodayAug. 15, 2013Scientists have long known that children with high levels of toxic lead in their bloodstream are more likely than others to behave impulsively, have shorter attention spans and lower IQs and do poorly in school.

Divining the Regulatory Goals of Fed RivalsNew York TimesAug. 14, 2013Noted: Mr. Summers and Ms. Yellen were academic stars before entering public service. Menzie Chinn, an economist and professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin, said that both were “at the forefront” of research undermining the idea that markets were self-correcting. By contrast, the former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan frequently argued that government regulation did more harm than good.